Trine biomedical engineering team awarded for design

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — A group of Trine University biomedical engineering majors won a top award for medical device design at a national competition over the summer.

Amy Apgar of Wickliffe, Ohio, Megan Davis of Genoa, Ohio, Nikki Hibler of Lafayette, Indiana, and Olivia Schuller of New Haven, Indiana, were honored for Best Design in Pain Stimulator at the BMES Coulter College Program, held Aug. 6-8 at Medtronic headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota,

The event is an annual education forum and competition sponsored by the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).

Experience, networking

The students said they decided to participate in the event to expand their knowledge of the field, to work with other students and to gain firsthand experience with medical device design and the process of bringing a product to market.

“There were plenty of opportunities for networking with both professionals in the field of biomedical engineering as well as our peers,” Davis said. “We had meetings daily with medical professionals and business leaders in medical devices who gave us guidance and insight for our individual project.”

Student teams were given one of three medical device topics. The Trine group was assigned pain stimulators.

Schuller said the team prepared by first gathering information on pain stimulators through research and by interviewing patients and doctors. The group also attended seminars, completed homework assignments given by the competition and meet weekly with faculty advisor Melanie G. Watson, Ph.D.

Davis said the group spent “many late nights brainstorming and working together.”

Apgar said the team had the freedom to decide how they would approach solving a current problem with the device. The Trine team chose to focus on modifying the way spinal cord stimulators can be charged, with the goal of allowing patients a more independent, active lifestyle.

“Our design was unique because it was based on a specific patient’s need instead of a generalized population,” said Schuller. “This allowed us to keep the design changes simple while allowing for a large impact in the patient’s quality of life. Then, we determined a bigger market that the design would also be beneficial for.”

Davis said their idea resonated with the professionals they met at the beginning of the conference.

“One of my favorite moments was speaking with the professionals at the beginning of the weekend and them telling us that we had a good idea and that we needed to full force go with it,” she said.

Bringing the design to life

At the conference, the students were able to meet with engineers, designers and entrepreneurs who assisted them in bringing their ideas and designs to life.

“We consulted with professionals in the medical industry who guided us through product ideation, design and business planning,” said Schuller.

They gave three presentations: an introduction presentation about their team and problem statement, a detailed design presentation, and a final entrepreneurial pitch that included the design with business strategies and market analysis.

Between meetings, they were able to tour Medtronic headquarters and labs, and network with professionals and students.

The event included teams from 10 colleges and universities around the US and one from Colombia.

“We also listened to many speakers and met with advisors during the competition who gave advice and shared their knowledge with us, which meant that we were constantly learning new things,” said Schuller.

The students felt their Trine education did a good job of equipping them for tasks like the Coulter competition.

“I feel as though my confidence in our design stems from our professors giving us the freedom and creativity on projects beginning as early as freshman year,” Davis said. “Rarely are we given strict instructions on projects and told to solve them at Trine. The freedom to have full creativity instilled confidence in myself and my ideas, which helped us excel at the Coulter College Program.”

Dr. Watson said she was proud of the work the team put in to not only design their device, but to research and develop business strategies and prepare their presentations.

“It was an incredible experience seeing the students awarded for their hard work,” she said. “They gave a tremendous amount of time and energy to this competition event.”

 

Photo: From left, Trine University biomedical engineering majors Olivia Schuller, Amy Apgar, Megan Davis and Nikki Hibler at Medtronic headquarters during the BMES Coulter College Program. The team was honored for Best Design in Pain Stimulator.